#first cliffhanger isn't it? I'm having fun >:)

[violetscanfly]

Marleyan Hange part 4

Liberio 1

A different kind of reunion

first | prev | next

Four years have passed as they do in canon and Hange and Levi have both been licking their wounds (emotional moreso than physical) but only one of them was aware they might meet again sooner rather than later.

Hange has involuntarily climbed the ranks of the Marleyan army while doing their best to keep Essie out of harm's way. Levi has had his hands full trying to keep the Survey Corps from collapsing while not accepting the title of commander, instead waiting until he deemed Armin old enough to be bestowed the title.

The raid Eren forced them into has started and Levi is zipping around Liberio when his eyes fall on a silhouette that has been haunting his nightmares (when he can even manage to fall asleep). As he sees them emerging from the neck of that mutt, something in him snaps and he changes course.

Hange has been running around looking for the warrior candidates while fending off the survey corps soldiers. No, they're island devils. They're praying they didn't hit anyone they know. Knew. Devils. That's right. Nothing more. They stop to ask a group of their underlings if they've seen the kids, but instead of answers they get warnings. They freeze at the sight of Levi (!?) flying towards them and before they can react he's torn them from their titan and tossed them into a wall. Stumbling from the impact, they approach him, something inside them pulling them towards him even now. They have to say something to him, anything, but what is there to say?

As he feels Hange grab onto his cape, hears them call his name, Levi holds onto the flare of anger and betrayal to commit to what he's about to do, stomping down any other emotions he may or may not be feeling, hard. It needs to be done. That's all there is to it.

[libraryofgage]

Harlequin Prince 5

Debbie and Fester Addams One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six Rick and Evelyn O'Connell One | Two | Three Harley Quinn One | Two | Three | Four | Five (you're here!) 10th Doctor and Rose One | Two Scooby Gang One Jedidiah and Octavius (from Night at the Museum) One | Two Queen Clarisse Renaldi One | Two | Three | Four Leverage Crew One

Today? I bring you a cliffhanger for Harley Quinn AU Steve. Tomorrow? Who knows, probably not much given my current rate of writing lmao

Anyway, have fun reading and if you see any typos, no you didn't <3

-----

“I want to be a Robin.”

The batcave goes near silent save the sound of Bruce choking on his coffee. He swallows it down, clears his throat, and carefully sets the coffee on the console in front of him. Then, he looks at Steve. “I think I misheard you,” he says, voice rough and cheeks still flushed from coughing.

“Make me a Robin.”

“Ah,” Bruce says, a frown tugging at his lips. “No.”

Steve blinks. He didn't think it would take much convincing, but maybe this is a test. He stands from the computer he'd been using to watch Tim and Damien patrol and walks over to Bruce. His computer is showing complicated schematics of a new Batmobile feature promising extra airbags and multiple first aid kits.

“Can I be a Robin?” Steve asks, thinking his approach might have been the issue. Bruce is constantly harping on him about etiquette, even though his mother says none of that really matters as long as he isn’t an asshole.

Bruce frowns deeper. “It takes more than asking, Steve.”

“Isn't that what Tim did?”

“Tim also managed to figure out my secret identity with almost no clues.”

“So, he can solve a puzzle. So can I.”

“You're missing the point, Steve.”

“I can do gymnastics, I know Gotham like the back of my hand, I'm not scared of getting hurt, and I want to stop bad guys. Hell, I've even got daddy issues, if that's a requirement!”

Even though Bruce is looking up at him, literally shorter because he's still sitting, his gaze makes Steve feel small. It’s not fair, the way he makes Steve fight the urge to find a blanket to hide under. He doesn't feel seen, exactly, but he feels studied. Bruce is practically wearing a lab coat and taking notes with the way his head tilts.

“What's this about?” Bruce finally asks, his voice soft and patient and that's somehow worse. He has experience with this. Bruce has a whole gaggle of traumatized kids that he's managed to keep alive (sort of, mostly, kind of) to pull from.

Steve holds strong for three seconds before deflating. He leans against the console, carefully avoiding any buttons that could set off missiles laced with kryptonite. He's seen Duke do that before; he'd rather not repeat the incident. “I just….I need to be good.”

“You're already good.”

“I'm not good enough!” Steve shouts, grimacing as his voice echoes through the cave. He takes a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “I think…I think I know who my dad is. And I just…I never want to be like him. I need to be good and make Mom proud and keep her safe. Isn't that what being a Robin is about? Keeping people safe? Please, Uncle Bruce, just let me try.”

A few beats of tense silence pass. Steve almost starts to think Bruce is going to reject him again when he says, “I understand.”

“You do?”

“I do,” Bruce says, nodding as he stands. He gestures for Steve to follow him as he walks deeper into the cave. Steve hurries after, practically stepping on the man's heels. “I can't promise you'll be a Robin, but you can at least start training like one.”

“What kind of training?”

“Combat, first aid, crisis management, parkour, and a weapon of choice.”

Steve mulls this over for a second, considering what lies ahead. “And I'll be good if I do this?” he asks.

A warm hand on his shoulder stops Steve in his tracks. He looks up to find Bruce staring down at him. “You're already good, Steve. Being good is about showing people you care. Saving them is one way, sure, but you could also just take care of them. Make breakfast, wash the dishes without being asked, always have their favorite snack on hand. Learn what makes people happy and do that. It's the small stuff that really counts.”

“Not the big stuff?”

“Sure, a big gesture once in a while is nice, but it doesn't add up the same. Small things show you listen and remember. That's all people really want, and that's all that being good is about.”

Steve chews on the inside of his cheek, thinking about how relieved and happy his mother looked the one time he did the dishes without being asked. “This doesn't sound like the kinda advice you would give,” he finally says.

“It shouldn’t,” Bruce says, “I learned it from my father, and he learned it from Alfred.”

Yeah, that makes much more sense.

-------

“Hey, I know we're already, like, here and all, but don't you think going inside the abandoned lab for supposed evil is a pretty dangerous idea?”

Steve glances at Robin, taking in her frown as she stares at the building in front of them. “I've been in, like, eight of these before,” he says, flashing a grin when she looks at him. “Don't worry, we’ll be fine.”

“Unless it's funnier if we're not,” Robin mutters. 

Her words make Steve grimace, because he knows exactly what's going to happen now. She's set the scene. Robin has pointed out the gun on the mantle, and now it's going to go off. Because the universe loves a cruel joke every once in a while.

“We’ll be fine,” Eddie says, unaware that he’s hammering nails into their coffin with each word. “We’re just here to explore, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, flashing a grin before leading their doomed group into the abandoned lab.

The inside is dusty and chaotic. Furniture is turned over, potted plants are spilling dirt across the floors, and there’s a large stain on the floor that Steve immediately recognizes as blood. Based on the shade, he’d clock the stain as three weeks old. One of the doors across the room is hanging on by a single hinge, leaning dangerously to the side and rendering the ID scanner by it pointless. 

“I thought they just ran out of funding,” Robin says, shifting closer to Steve to avoid stepping on the blood stain. She grabs the edge of his shirt as they slip through, careful to avoid disturbing the door.

“I heard they accidentally blew up the basement,” Eddie says, his voice low and conspiratorial like they’re sharing secrets at a sleepover. He leans even closer, hand on Steve’s shoulder for balance. “Some of the baseball team were around the night it happened. They heard explosions and screaming, something like a monster wailing through the trees. Maybe it’s still here, waiting for its next meal.”

Robin glares at him. “Don’t be such an asshole, Munson.”

“Well, he’s probably right about the monster thing,” Steve says.

“Wait, you were serious about that?” Robin asks.

Steve pauses. “You thought I wasn’t?” he asks in return.

“I mean, yeah? Hawkins has seen some weird shit recently, sure, but monsters are a little unbelievable.”

“He’s literally from Gotham,” Eddie says, gesturing at Steve. “Like, Gotham Gotham. Of Batman fame. They’ve got Poison Ivy and The Riddler and King Shark, sometimes, I think.”

“He’s in the Pacific right now,” Steve says, vaguely remembering the last postcard he got from King Shark about running into an ex on some island getaway. 

“That’s Gotham,” Robin says, “Hawkins doesn’t have shit like that. We just have kids that disappear and malls that explode sometimes.”

“Your mall exploded?”

“Yeah, they said it was a busted gas pipe or something.”

Well, that sounds suspicious. Steve is just about to say as much when Eddie nudges him and points out an elevator. “Think it works?” he asks.

“This whole building has been cut off from the grid for nearly two years. Why the fuck would the elevator work?” Robin asks.

Steve considers this for a moment before grinning and leading them closer. “I mean, it’d be pretty funny if it did, don’t you think?” he asks, looking at both of them as he presses the button.

A resounding ding echoes around them, followed by the whir of cables pulling the elevator. Eddie and Robin stare as it comes to a stop and the doors open. Steve takes a step inside, inspecting for safety. The light is flickering inside and glass covers the floor, but the elevator is otherwise intact. Steve kicks the glass aside and gestures for Eddie and Robin to join him.

The doors slide shut after them, and Steve looks over the buttons before choosing the one for the basement. Tinny, garbled elevator music begins to play as it jolts and starts to descend. “So, uh, speaking of Gotham,” Robin says, fingers tapping against the side of her thigh, “what’s that place like?”

“It’s just a city,” Steve replies, shrugging.

“But have you seen Batman? Oh, what about Harley Quinn?” Eddie asks.

“I’ve heard she’s twelve pounds of crazy in a three pound bag,” Robin says, grinning widely, “And she’s hot.”

Steve grimaces, trying desperately to erase from his brain the connection between his mother and the word “hot.” He knows she’s pretty, of course, but that’s still his mom. He’d rather hear someone say Bruce Wayne is a total knock-out than his mother.

“Bruce Wayne is pretty fucking smoking, too,” Eddie says, waggling his eyebrows like that will suddenly turn Robin straight long enough to agree with his assessment. 

When Steve tries to think about Bruce in that context, all his mind can offer is Bruce hunched over, squinting at a computer screen, three days without a shower, and running solely on coffee and protein bars. 

Smoking, though? Well, Steve has seen Bruce on fire more than once, so it’s with complete confidence that he says, “He smolders, too, sometimes.”

“Ugh, gross,” Robin mutters, rolling her eyes as the elevator comes to a jolting stop. 

The doors screech as they open, making Eddie and Robin wince. Steve just frowns, taking a step forward so he’s the first thing that can be seen from the other side.

The hallway ahead of them has a few flickering lights and a dim red glow at the end, but it’s dark otherwise. Vines creep along the walls, crowding around the elevator, overlapping and competing for space. Something is dripping in the distance, and the smell of petrichor is wrong.

Steve knows what petrichor is supposed to smell like, especially in the presence of plants. It’s earthy and almost clinging. It lingers like mist after the rain. It hugs the streets and people of Gotham like it’s scared something will happen if it goes away.

This, though? This petrichor is overwhelming. It invades and smothers and nearly chokes. It puts Steve on edge.

“What are we waiting for?” Robin asks, peeking around Steve.

He holds an arm out, blocking her path. “Stay behind me,” he says, the sudden seriousness in his tone enough to make both of them listen without questioning. 

Steve walks down the hall carefully, studying the ground to make sure he doesn’t accidentally tread on any vines. Their footsteps echo with the drip, but nothing else can be heard. “This is kinda creepy,” Eddie whispers, shuffling behind Steve until he’s close enough for Steve to feel the heat from his body.

“Yeah, no shit, Munson,” Robin whispers back. “Also, why are we whispering?”

“Seems like the kinda place you whisper.”

They reach the end of the hall before Robin can respond. Steve motions for both of them to be quiet as he sticks close to the wall and looks around the corner. 

The vines are thicker at the dead end of the new hall. They all shoot out from a large opening in the wall, clinging to brick as they grow. That dim glow is coming from the opening itself. Whatever it leads to, a thick fog fills the space between it and the hall. The red dances across the walls and floors, the vines creating shadows large and small. 

Steve narrows his eyes. When he looks close enough, he can see the glint of metal just under the vines around the opening. He traces the brief glints of metal until he lands on what must be a switch in the wall. It, too, is flickering gently, a nearly-imperceptible green drowned under vines and darkness.

“What are we looking at?” Robin whispers.

“A portal,” Eddie replies.

“One we can close,” Steve adds, gesturing to the switch and pointing out the metal beneath the vines. “Whatever they were looking for, they had the sense to make something they could close. We hit that button, the door closes, and we go get pizza.”

“I don’t know if you noticed,” Robin says, “but those vines are in the way.”

“We just need to cut them.”

“Oh, and I suppose you carry a fucking sword around for just this occasion?” Robin hisses.

With such a perfect set up, how could Steve not follow through?

He grins brightly, places a hand on his hip like he’s grabbing the hilt of a sword, and fluidly pulls one out of nowhere. It’s black and red, covered in clubs and spades like one of his mom’s old costumes. With a glance, he can tell it’s a broadsword, huge and unwieldy but perfect for cutting through thick vines.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Robin asks.

“You’re the one who made it possible,” Steve tells her, shrugging as he steps around the corner. “Wait here.”

As he walks away, he barely hears Eddie mutter under his breath about boys with impossible swords. A smile tugs at Steve’s lips, and he twirls the broadsword in his hand just to show off. It’s not nearly as heavy as it looks, but that’s only because he thinks it’s funnier that way. 

A faint humming starts to sound in his ears as he nears the portal. He studies it carefully, adjusts his grip on the hilt of his sword, and slashes through the vines at the bottom. A pained screech echoes through the hallway, and he hears Robin and Eddie yelp.

Steve tenses, waiting for something to attack, but nothing does. He chances a look over his shoulder to see Eddie and Robin catching their breaths. “You okay?” he calls.

“That scared the shit outta us,” Eddie says, placing a hand on Robin’s shoulder and wheezing just to be dramatic.

With a nod, Steve turns back to the vines. He swings his sword again. The vines screech again.

And so it continues for ten minutes as Steve hacks and slices and saws away the vines stretching from the portal. The entire time, he keeps an ear open for any other sounds. Any step, any growl, any shift that doesn’t come from Robin and Eddie, and he’ll turn around swinging.

Nothing happens, though. He clears away the vines, including the ones covering the switch, and takes one last look around before slamming his hand against the thing. Like a rope has snapped, the metal door comes crashing down, cutting off the portal and the little bit of steady light that had been illuminating the hallway.

“Huh, that was easier than I thought,” Robin says, hands on her hips like she’s almost disappointed.

“Yeah, no kidding. I was expecting more, you know, danger,” Eddie adds.

Steve, because he can feel the universe turning and twisting around to get a good look at the show, braces himself. He takes a deep breath before saying, “See, I told you we’d be just fine.”

He was the last to speak on purpose, because then the universe will target him, and he can bounce back from anything. Hopefully, the searing pain of something lancing straight through his stomach is included in that anything. 

Steve hears Eddie and Robin scream as he looks down, a clawed, monstrous hand sticking out of him just below his sternum. A monstrous scream drowns out his friends, making his ears ring as putrid air rolls over him. 

It hurts. Of course it fucking hurts, but adrenaline is rushing through Steve like never before. It keeps him standing long enough to twist around to see the monster currently feeling up his insides without permission. It looks like a person-shaped version of those demodogs from a few days ago, tall and gangly and utterly inhuman.

The thing starts to pull its arm out, raising the other at the same time. Instinct and the voice of Alfred telling him that he should never remove what impales him has Steve swinging his sword around. It cuts through the monster’s forearm, allowing Steve to jerk a few steps away and spin around. 

“RUN!” Eddie shouts, the only word Steve can process before the monster shrieks again. 

It charges at Steve, blood dripping from its stump. Steve takes a moment to spit out his own blood that’s been pooling behind his teeth. He adjusts his grip on the sword, crouching slightly to brace himself. When the monster is close enough, Steve swings the sword in a large arch, swiftly cutting the monster in two across its torso.

He quickly retreats as the monster freezes. A second passes before its top half slides to the ground and the bottom half falls forward. Silence echoes, broken by Steve dropping his sword on the ground and coughing.

The world is spinning, black spots dancing along the edges of his vision as he turns to Eddie and Robin. They’re both staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths. “I bet someone found that hilarious,” he wheezes before his knees give out.

He’s barely hit the floor when he feels arms wrap around him. Frantic words fill the air above his head and panicked heartbeats echo in his ears. “Don’t worry,” he says, drawing in a painful breath. “I won’t die. Wouldn’t be funny.”

With that, Steve passes out, knowing his mother and Jason would appreciate his dramatics.

-------

Tag list (there's definitely still room, so please let me know if you'd like to be tagged!)

@nectandra, @y4r3luv, @just-a-tiny-void, @dotdot-wierdlife

@midwestharpy,

@bxnghy,

@twilitdragoneye, @disrespectedgoatman, @lawrencebshoggoth, @gunsknivesandplaid, @sadisticaltarts

Anyway, me rn:

[lemotmo]

Not to doom, just a genuine question: asking Ostark about buddie and having Ostark saying that Eddie is straight wouldn’t be just a way to shut down Buddie by remembering the audience and stating that nothing can happen since Eddie is straight?

Well no. For many many many reasons:

A. If the goal was to shut down Buddie they wouldn't even allow questions about it in the first place. Why talk about something that isn't even on the radar for them?

B. The general audience isn't as obsessed with 911 as we are. For some of them a queer Eddie would be unexpected. So why mention Buddie in the first place if the GA wasn't even thinking about it? Why actively make people think about something you don't want them to think about in the first place? That would be so counterproductive.

C. Oliver would never add the 'we'll see what happens there' or the 'If the story were to go there, I'm up for it.' if he knew it wasn't going canon. That is not the way that man works. He once stopped talking about Buddie full stop, because he didn't want to give people false hope. This was when the show was still on FOX.

Then when it moved to ABC, he suddenly and freely started mentioning Buddie again.

Same with Ryan by the way. He has given the exact same scripted answer that if the story would go there, he'd be up for it.

If they wanted to shut it all down? They would just say something like 'Yeah, the fans really seem to like us together like that, but I'm afraid that it'll never happen. Sorry guys! But Buck and Eddie are just good friends. That is all.'

D. They would have also pushed the BT agenda more. They would have allowed GMA to ask questions about T and if Buck would ever get together with him again.

If Buddie was never the plan? They would have definitely done promo for BT and they would have given them a more compelling storyline. A bit like Tarlos in Lone Star. They got interviews and a photoshoot.

Oliver would have had to interact more with L as well. They would have had interviews discussing their relationship etc.

But none of that happened. From the very beginning, Oliver straight up ignored the T of it all and only talked about Buck's bisexuality. The show knew and he knew that BT was never meant to last in the first place. It was a ploy to make Buddie happen in the long run.

D. The narrative of the show right now. They have had Buck question if he is in love with Eddie twice now. Every single time his answer that Eddie is 'straight'. He never simply says 'Eddie is my best friend. No way! That would feel wrong.' or something like that.

Eddie has mentioned he is straight as well in a very queer-coded episode. Everything in that episode was pointing towards the fact that he is in fact 'not as straight as he thinks he is'.

E. Oliver and Ryan doing 'silly' interviews together. The thirst tweet thing and the other Buzzfeed interview. It's just silly fun that shows off their chemistry.

No no no Nonny! This is happening! It's going canon.😄 I don't know the exact timeline they're going with here, but I do expect something Buddie-wise to happen in the finale. It'll be part of a character-driven emotional cliffhanger to tie us over to season 9. Personally, I'm thinking about mutual feelings realisations. But who knows at this point? 🤷‍♀️

I don't care. I'm sat for that finale AND season 9. 🤗

[madame-mortician]

Random Evil Dead Fun Facts!

Because I'm hyperfixated on it :P

Originally, Ash was supposed to lose an eye in Army of Darkness, but this was scrapped.

Currently Evil Dead (2013) has the most fake blood used in a film, with 50,000 gallons being used. This isn't that suprising considering that during the final 10 minutes of the film, it is raining blood non-stop.

Freddy Krueger's glove is in the workshed in Evil Dead 2. This is a reference to how in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nancy watched The Evil Dead. Ironically, that was a nod to how Wes Craven's "The Hills have Eyes" poster was in The Evil Dead. That in turn was a nod to how in The Hills have Eyes a torn Jaws poster is seen on the walls. Very confusing easter egg.

Ironically, Ash actually does say the correct words during the Necronomicon scene in Army of Darkness, but it's hard to hear due to Bruce Campbell coughing his way through it, which sounds like something Ash would do honestly.

Speaking of that scene in Army of Darkness, it is actually established that Ash isn't good at remembering phrases, shown by the scene in The Evil Dead, where Ash tries to recite a greek quote but fucks it up.

Evil Dead Rise confirms that the original trilogy takes place in the same universe as the remake and Evil Dead Rise. For one, they confirm there are three volumes of the Necronomicon, being the ones seen in Army of Darkness. The first Necronomicon, Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, was found by Prof. Knowby and read by Ash and his friends. The second book, Naturom Demonto, is the one Mia found in her family cabin and the final one, also named Naturom Demonto, is the one locked in the bank vault in Evil Dead Rise.

Each deadite in Evil Dead Rise has different eyes referencing the older ones. Ellie has unique silver eyes, Bridget and the neighbours have golden yellow eyes (like in the 2013 film) and Danny has pupilless white eyes (like in the original trilogy.)

The character names in Evil Dead (2013) start with letters that spell the word "DEMON" (David, Eric, Mia, Olivia and Natalie.)

Similarly, the building in Evil Dead Rise, the Monde, is an anagram for Demon as well.

A reocurring theme in the Evil Dead films, is a sister getting possessed and tormenting their sibling. This is shown with Cheryl and her brother Ash, Mia and her brother David, Ellie and her sister Beth and Bridget and her siblings Danny and Kassie.

All the characters in Evil Dead Rise are named after actors from the Evil Dead films, which I elaborate on here.

Originally Army of Darkness was named "Medieval Dead."

The original ending of Army of Darkness showed Ash waking up in a post-apocolyptic future, but it was changed to the more optimistic ending. Despite both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell preferring the original ending, the redone ending was used to continue the story with Ash VS Evil Dead.

The original ending was also supposed to lead into Evil Dead 4, where Ash would've fought deadites in the future with robots and other futuristic tropes, but because the ending was changed this never happened. Ironically, the same thing happened to Ash VS Evil Dead, when Season 3 ended on a cliffhanger so that the next season could be in the post-apocalyptic future, but this too was cancelled.

The German version of Army of Darkness incorporates both endings. It starts with the deleted ending, where Ash incorrectly takes 7 drops instead of 6, but as he sleeps it cuts to black and says Ash began dreaming over the centuries. Then it cuts to the regular ending where Ash is in the supermarket and is hailed as a hero before cutting back to him waking up in the post-apocalyptic future. Ironically this is my favourite ending, but it's not-canon.

Evil Dead (2013) had a bunch of different endings before settling on the, supposedly, canon one. One ending had Mia simply leave and the film ends, another had her go to leave before being jumped by a demon (like in The Evil Dead's ending), another had her collapse on the road and get rescued only to reveal she was still possessed and another had her go to leave but start floating before she exploded. The canon one is likely the theatrical ending where she simply walks away, and since we never see Mia again we have nothing to confirm or deny this.

The Abomination from Evil Dead (2013) is inspired by the poster of The Evil Dead, which depicts a woman being dragged into a grave. The Abomination even does the same pose when it rises.

Speaking of The Evil Dead posters, the promo images for The Evil Dead, showed Bruce Campbell and Bridget Hoffman being attacked by a skeleton prop, and defending themselves with a chainsaw. Despite being in all the promotional images and being on the literal cover, Bridget Hoffman was not in the film, though it's likely she is supposed to be a stand-in for Linda. She also played a cameo role as a sword fighter in Army of Darkness, and the voice of the Lori doll in Ash VS Evil Dead.

In The Evil Dead originally it was written that the characters would be smoking weed whilst listening to the tapes, perhaps as a way to explain why they would willingly play the tape, and as a way to rationalise the characters dumb decisions for the rest of the film. This however, was scrapped when the actors did smoke weed for the shot, but got too high and became uncontrollable.

The opening shot of The Evil Dead was filmed by Sam Raimi who stood on a boat, whilst Bruce Campbell pushed him along.

One of the demon passages in The Evil Dead translates to "Sam and Rob are the hikers on the road" a reference to the fact that the two hitchhikers at the start of the film are literally Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

During The Evil Dead, a cameraman slipped and dropped his camera onto Bruce Campbell's face, which caused several of his teeth to fall out.

Apparently during filming for Evil Dead 2, after one of the slapstick scenes Bruce Campbell heard somebody making funny noises above him and thought they were making fun of his performance, only for it to turn out that guy got electrocuted. I say apparently because even though Campbell said this himself, he could've been kidding.

Originally the idea with Evil Dead (2013) was that it would get a sequel, similar to Evil Dead 2 but with Mia, and then Ash's story would get a sequel with Army of Darkness 2, and then a third sequel would be made that would have Mia and Ash's stories merge and have the two characters meet, explaining the random after-credits scene in 2013. For some reason they never made the sequel to Evil Dead (2013) and the sequel to Army of Darkness was scrapped for Ash VS Evil Dead instead. The 2013 sequel was replaced with Evil Dead Rise, and Bruce Campbell has since retired as Ash in live-action.

In Japan, Army of Darkness is called "Captain Supermarket" probably being in reference to how Ash works in retail.

So far Evil Dead Rise is the only Evil Dead film without Ash's yellow delta, though apparently the chainsaw used by Beth is the same exact colour as the delta, being a double-reference.

Speaking of the delta, Ash's car appears in Evil Dead (2013), sitting abandoned in front of the cabin. It is most likely just an easter egg and has no lore implications.

Mia and David are half-siblings with different fathers. Originally it was intended for Mia to be Ash's daughter, but this was changed by Raimi. Ironically Ash did end up getting a daughter in the TV show.

Speaking of, Mia was supposed to appear in Ash VS Evil Dead, but it’s likely she wouldn’t have fit since her movie and experience was way darker than Ash’s, and she wouldn’t fit the tone.

The canonical reason Evil Dead (2013) is so similar to The Evil Dead is because the Necronomicon can cause history to repeat itself and likely lured the 5 friends to the cabin (which could also explain why some of the randoms are even here). This is why the 5 characters play very similar roles to the original film, Eric is Scotty, Natalie is Linda, Olivia is Shelly, and David is Ash whilst Mia is Cheryl. The reason Mia survives instead of David, and becomes more like Ash in the finale is likely that when David saved Mia, which Ash failed to do with Cheryl, the Necronomicon decided David should die and Mia should take Ash's role instead. It's also possible that David took the role of Annie in the finale, with him helping before being killed last second, but this is a bit of a stretch.

Bruce Campbell has two cameos in Evil Dead Rise. First is his voice being heard on the first tape Danny plays, where he plays a priest yelling “It’s called the Book of the Dead for a reason!” The second is simply the biting noises when Ellie bites Gabriel’s eye out, being Bruce Campbell furiously biting an apple.

Lee Cronin (Writer/Director of Evil Dead Rise) stated that Bruce Campbell’s cameo was intended to actually be Ash Williams himself. His reasoning was that Ash has found himself in the wrong time period a lot, and it would make sense for a time-displaced Ash to try and get rid of the Necronomicon in the past, before shit hits the fan.

Chet Kaminski was invited by Ash to go with them to the cabin. He chose not to come because Cheryl was also going and he didn’t want Ash to find out he was dating his sister as he feared it would end their friendship. This ultimately ended up saving his life.

In the Evil Dead films, the only characters to be possessed after they died were Scotty, Eric, David, Danny and the neighbours (Evil Dead Rise).

Shelly is never mentioned ever again after The Evil Dead. Scotty is mentioned once, in Ash VS Evil Dead.

Whilst shooting the recap scenes in Evil Dead 2, originally it was intended to have The Evil Dead be more closely followed, with Scotty, Cheryl and Shelly being there with Ash and not just Linda. Sam Raimi himself was going to play Scotty, but it was scrapped in favour of it being only Linda. It’s this recap that led to many fans and viewers being confused and assuming Evil Dead 2 was a retcon or remake when it was not. They couldn’t simply use footage from The Evil Dead due to licensing issues.

[goldfishinaplasticbag]

Fun fact! The first time I read 1-800-GOTHAM I had to stop in the middle of chapter 6 to do something that required me to not have my phone on me, but left me a lot of time to think! Specifically, I had to stop after Jax treated Jason's injuries and before he noticed the bug was broken. 

Maybe it's just that I'm more affected by social consequences in stories than physical ones, but I think that is genuinely a worse cliffhanger than chapter 15. Ch15 is bad, but you know hes not gonna die even though he's critically injured and you know basically what's going to happen next: the bats freak out, he gets medical care, he loses a spleen but it's fine. Mid-ch6? Like I definitely clocked "hey that's probably the bug breaking" but you don't know that for sure and also maybe the Red Hood helmet is recording because that's something I've seen in several fics, so even if it doesn't come up now it could later. There wasn't any "the author isn't really going to do that" the way there is when characters are in near-death situations. And you don't know what bats are listening to the bug because that's off screen (except for Nightwing I guess because it said he'd show up in the chapter summary) but my assumption was all of them, and how any of them are going to react to that is very unpredictable! 

So anyway I was just kinda imagining that for half an hour and it definitely made me 110% more insane about this fic

honestly i agree! you stopped at such a good part too. the tension! the what-ifs!

chapter 15 is a cliffhanger that i specifically chose to stop at, simply because it isn't as stressful. i try not to leave you guys hanging for too long, and it's obvious that tim's not dying, so i picked that part to end at. but you stopping at chapter 6 is such a good place! i should write more of those lol

it was my hope that people would feel the tension and potential consequences of the bat-bug in that chapter. you don't know what will happen simply because anything could have happened.

i'm so glad you managed to make the tension even GREATER by stopping at that specific part. you read it as intended. thank you for enjoying!

[agrlsname]

Thank you @therealsaintscully for the tag! I'm soon about to post what might be my very last fic, so it's quite fitting to look back on my journey now.

How many works do you have on ao3?

38 – all Johnlock, except for one GO fic. On New Year's Eve I will post number 39!

What’s your total word count?

371,360 (will soon top it off with another 221 words ;))

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

What Friends Do (by FAR), Who I Really Am (personal fave), The General Idea, Coldness/Heat, Tomorrow's Song

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

At first I responded to every single one! And I still try to respond to every single person. But now, I sometimes only respond to the last one if it's a reader who's commented on every chapter and I get all the comments at once. I like staying connected to the readers, that's one of the most fun parts about fandom!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

It has to be This Is Your Song. I mean, there's another one within a series that end in an angsty cliffhanger, but MCD surely has to take the prize?

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Oh my, nearly all of them have happy endings – so what would count as happier than happy..? Maybe it's actually the one that isn't posted yet – stay tuned for the resolution of the New Year's Kiss series!

Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I've written a fusion though (Johnlock and Moulin Rouge!).

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yup. Some people get really angry at John in What Friends Do and they take it out on me. It's interesting because many MANY others adore the story with all their hearts! I even wrote a sequel from John's POV just to try to get people to understand, but the haters didn't understand anyway.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Even though at the beginning I said I'd never, half of my works are now rated E or M. What kind? Um, is "emotional, gay sex" a genre?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Many of them, into five different languages! Coolest thing ever.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I think I'm too pedantic for that. I've loved working with my beta on some poem translations, though, that The Sky is Full of Fiddles is based on.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

38 fics – you all know it's Johnlock, right? There are others that I love, but nothing can ever compare.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I don't have WIPs! I'm too much of a control freak and perfectionist when it comes to writing – I want to be able to change the beginning when I'm writing the ending. I don't even have unpublished WIPs – I hate the idea of leaving works unfinished. If I was still in those first years of writing frenzy, when I was single and didn't have a child, I'd have expanded on This Time – but as it is, I knew that I wouldn't have the time to do it justice. So I purposely ended on a cliffhanger that would still allow it to stand on its own the way it is.

What are your writing strengths?

Emotions, according to my beta! If you ask me, I'd say describing things – often emotions, I suppose – in new, poetic ways that play on different senses and therefore make them immediate. It's something I love reading myself, anyway, so it's something I've been practicing for... well, decades now. I'd like to think I've gotten at least somewhat good at it.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm weirdly bad at coming up with the small details that aren't important, but needed. A recent example is I needed a character to text another with an invented problem to try to get him to come over. It wasn't at all important what the problem was, but it also couldn't be just anything; it had to be in line with his character. I could not for the life of me come up with this problem myself – eventually my husband did it for me. So those kinds of details in my stories are rarely from my own brain!

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Hmm, well, I've tried not to do that. As a reader I find it annoying to have to look things up, or scroll down to the notes. I have three fics in which characters aren't English; in This Is Your Song I added a couple of "Bonjour"s for flavour, which is about as far as my own French knowledge reaches... In the Fiddles series they're Swedes and speak my mother tongue, but I've written everything in English except for the words that English doesn't have (like for example "polska", a kind of dance), and at the very end, some song lyrics that are then translated into English in the end notes that come immediately after. I did want to add that song for flavour, but I didn't want it to be annoying.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Johnlock! I started in the aftermath of season 4 back in January 2017 and then couldn't stop.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I'm wondering whether I will come back to fic writing at a later point, but for another fandom. I've long wanted to write more for GO, although I already have written one fic. It would probably be a lot of fun to write for OFMD too. Doctor Who maybe? I don't know, it intimidates me to write for a new fandom where I don't yet know the characters as well as I know Sherlock and John.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

This question is too cruel! There are so many of them that I love. Maybe I have to say The Sky is Full of Fiddles, after all – it holds such a special place in my heart for many reasons that go beyond the story itself (although that's true for several fics). Other faves are Your Daughter, The Zebra Sheets and of course Who I Really Am, which I'm liking enough to turn it into a novel I'm now trying to get published. See, I couldn't pick one!!

I'm on Tumblr way too sporadically to have any idea of who's already done this and who hasn't, so I don't dare tag anyone... Feel free to take it and tag me if you feel like it!

[nerevarswritingstuff]

Yes, I would love to see your icks🙏

HOOOOO BOY OKAY THEN buckle up kids this is gonna be a LONG ONE. Probably. We'll see by the end of this just how long this list actually is.

For the sake of everyone's sanity, I will be putting it under a read more just to be safe, because I have so many words to say about these things I hate reading. :)

AND just to note, most of these will revolve around LMK fics, or reader-insert fics in general. Just... things that make me drop a fic entirely and never finish it.

HERE WE GO!

Isekai

I cannot, and I mean cannot stand isekai fics. I can't stand isekai stories in general, but in my opinion, they're worse in fics. Nine times out of ten, the character just thinks the new world is better than their old one and forgets about their home. OR, they're panicking and worrying about their family and friends back home and how they're going to get back. Spoiler: This is forgotten after like maybe three or four chapters.

Isekai fics, in my opinion, are just lazy and boring. I've given too many of those kinds of fics a chance only to be sorely disappointed. In an isekai story, I'd like to see more of the plot line where our MC's sole purpose is to go home, no matter how much more colorful and whatnot the new world is. OR they slowly but surely accept the fact that they're not going to return home, and start to just rebuild their life in the new world.

Sadly, I've yet to even find a story like this, and I won't waste my time trying to look for one.

Awful Grammar

AS A DISCLAIMER: If English is not someone's first language and they struggle with grammar, that's fine. The same is said for people who suck at grammar but are trying. Grammar is a nightmare even for native English speakers, I can attest to this.

The reason why this is an "ick" for me mainly because of this: if the grammar is bad but I can still get an idea of what's going on even if there's a few mistakes here and there? I'll still read it. It's fine. But if I can't make heads or tails because the grammar is so fucking bad I'm unable to understand what's going on? I'm clicking off that fic RIGHT QUICK.

This is where I beg. On my hands and knees. PLEASE get a beta-reader. If English isn't your first language, then get a beta-reader who DOES understand English grammar. GET SOMEONE ELSE TO HELP YOU READ THROUGH IT AND FIX THE GRAMMAR. P L E A S E.

Dog Shit Pacing

The plot either goes too fast or too slow. You already know I'm a slow-burn mother fucker over here and I'll die on this hill. But I also like to keep the plot moving forward slowly but surely.

(Which, don't worry, now that the Big Reveal has happened, the pacing for the Show Plot™ will be a BIT faster, but we're focusing on Wukong and Macaque rn)

I'll give a TINY bit of leniency because pacing is hard to master, and even I'm still trying to find a nice point for it, but I don't like pacing that's so fast I get worse whiplash than riding a rollercoaster at a sketchy carnival.

When it comes to slower pacing, I need to stay interested. Give me some hints, some teasers, a few cliffhangers! I dunno man, it just bores me if I'm 15 chapters in and still see no end to the horizon besides Hatsune Miku.

In all seriousness, if you want your pacing slow, then that's fine, but you have to make every word count to keep your readers interested.

MC With No Backbone

I. Hate. This. Trope. I hate reading about OCs or Reader-Inserts that have little to no spine, and just get treated as a doormat. It's not interesting, and it's not fun to just read about a character that's constantly dogged on (9 times out of 10 for NO FUCKING REASON) by the other characters.

I will only like this trope if it's used in a way as character development where the OC/Reader-Insert learns to stand up for themselves in the end. I'm fine with that. Otherwise, kill this trope with fire.

The next point goes off of this point into...

The No-Backbone Character Snaps

This trope makes me mad for one specific reason: EVERYONE MAKES IT INTO SUCH A BIG DEAL. First, it's out of place, and second, every single character is just SOOOOO SHOOOOOCKED THAT THE DOORMAT ACTUALLY TALKS BACK. LIKE HOLY SHIT IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL SHUT UP AND MOVE ON.

And the FINAL POINT FOR THIS...

"Strong" Characters

Allow me to elaborate on this. You read about a character that's supposed to be strong-willed, sassy, and have a backbone. The complete opposite of the one I was complaining about earlier. Sounds great, right?

WRONG.

Because every FUCKING story I've ever read, these "strong" characters are just badly written. Period. The "sass" is quite literally just being a jerk. The strong-willed goes into that bit, too. They just literally act like a dick. There is a difference.

The most frustrating thing I see is when reading ANY kind of story, any "strong" character, and this is for ANY gender but ESPECIALLY female characters (OC or Reader-Inster), suddenly just... lose any sense of fight in them when around their love interest. They're submissive, they're a doormat, and just let their LI do whatever they want. I hate it.

I'm tired of this, grandpa. I'm so god-damn tired of seeing characters who are portrayed as strong, and out of nowhere when their love interest shows up, deciding to be more aggressive, the MC just crumbles. Stop that. Just stop. Seriously.

(The "no backbone character suddenly snaps" bit also applies to this.)

MC Can Do NO WRONG, APPARENTLY?

This is especially bad in LMK, but holy shit, guys. Calm down with this bullshit of "MC is the perfect person and everything they do is perfectly fine but the second someone does it to THEM suddenly THAT PERSON IS WRONG AND DUMB AND AWFUL!! >:("

Why do you think I make Nibby the way they are? They're right a lot of the times, sure, but they're equally WRONG a lot of the times, too. They make mistakes, and they own up to it. They fuck up. They do good, and bad. They. Are. Not. Perfect.

I'm so fucking done with seeing MC's (Reader-Insert or OCs) being treated like they know everything better than everyone. I'm so FUCKING done with MC's being treated like perfect demure little princesses even when they're the ones who are wrecking shit. They can do no wrong? Shut the fuck up and get out of my face with that.

CONSTANT, and I Mean C O N S T A N T POV Switches

This is mostly for writing and not really in any kind of comic or drawing aspect, but holy shit.

I've said this before in my little writer tips thing, but oh my actual lord, I cannot stand when we can't stay with just one character's POV for more than two paragraphs. I'm begging on my hands and knees, just stay with one character for at least half a chapter or an entire chapter. We do NOT need to know what everyone is thinking immediately. Just. Stop. STOP. AAAAAAAUGH.

ENDLESS. ANGST. TRAIN.

Oh my god I talked about it in my writing tips ask before but let me tell you something, guys. I genuinely hate it when angst doesn't stop. THE BEACH EPISODE IN ANIME EXISTS FOR A REASON. IT'S A BREAK FROM ALL THE BULLSHIT THE CHARACTERS GO THROUGH. PLEASE JUST STOP. LET THEM HEAL.

Before y'all try to be all "oh but Nerevar, you've written angst!" Yeah but did you forget I also write the healing that comes after? The growth of the characters that come AFTER their angst episode? Yeah, didn't think so.

I've read so, so, SO many fics that have had just... non-stop angst and it gets so tiring and beyond boring reading it. We get it, they're suffering. Can we please get to the healing, now? P L E A S E?

Hating Wukong for NO FUCKING REASON

This is mostly because of those annoying ass Macaque stans who will blame Wukong for everything that happened to Mac and call him horrible. Need I remind you Mac was willing to kill MK in episode 9 just to get Wukong to fight properly? Mhm, yeah, now sit back down and shut up.

I cannot stand this unnecessary hatred for a character that's actually morally grey and complicated with complex emotions, thoughts, and feelings. And it's always, always for the dumbest fucking reasons. Has he made mistakes? Yes, but who the fuck hasn't. He, just like everyone in the show, grew as characters.

And speaking OF Wukong...

Making Wukong Stupid For EQUALLY NO REASON

Oh my actual LORD I hate this so fucking much. One little joke between MK and Wukong has given birth to my least favorite headcanon in this fucking fandom.

MK: Can't read? Wukong: Uh... I get stage fright.

And now everyone's pointing and laughing at Wukong like "LOL HE'S SO ILLITERATE HE'S DUMB HE'S A BIG STUPID IDIOT"

We're not even going to go into the actual JTTW Wukong, this is SOLELY on the LMK version.

Ok, so, if he's illiterate and can't read or write, then how in the fuck did he write that letter to MK in episode 3 of season 2?

PROOF INSIDE THE PUDDING.

WOW SO ILLITERATE. SO DUMB. VERY LOL.

Like, have we watched the same show? Wukong acts stupid to lighten the mood. He knows how to take shit seriously, he knows how to turn off "funny guy" mode and enter serious mode.

I am the number one Wukong defender and I will NEVER STOP DEFENDING HIM NONE OF YOU CAN KILL ME IN A WAY THAT MATTERS.

Anyway, yeah, I hate that headcanon and y'all can keep that shit far, far away from me.

Six-Eared Macaque's Six Ears

Hoo boy here's the fun one. I have lost count on how many times I've seen this dog shit trope, and every time I see it another one of my brain cells die. If you're caught up with my fic, and have read chapter 35, then you already know that my version of Macaque is not bothered by loud noises such as thunder or fireworks or the like.

Why?

BECAUSE HE'S NOT A FUCKING CHILD.

"Oh, but Nerevar!" I hear you cry as I sit in my rocking chair. "He has six ears! He hears so much more than the normal human! Wouldn't that mean he'd hate loud noises?"

I'm sorry, are we seriously debating if the several thousand year old monkey can handle a little bit of thunder or fireworks? Are we seriously going to baby this actual adult?

Whether we go down the route of "muffle magic" or not, this man has had SEVERAL MILLENNIA to train his ears to handle such noises. Would some still annoy him/bug him? Sure. Yeah. But to render him completely inconsolable and lying on the ground clutching his ears and crying out in agony? Yeah, no. No. Get off my lawn and stay off my property.

(I also hate the follow-up trope of Macaque suddenly getting noise-cancelling earphones from the MCs. I seriously just don't get it. It's happened in every single fic I've read before. I don't get it and I don't want to because I hate it it's stupid.)

The Infantilizing of Literal Adult Characters

This is where some of y'all really start to piss me off. The only characters who are the youngest in this god-damn show (and are STILL LEGAL ADULTS) are Mei and MK. Before you try to come at me like "oh but on [insert unreliable website here] it says they're this age!" That's not confirmed.

Their ages are never fucking confirmed, that was just a fan-thing.

More fucking proof before you try to "UHM--ACTUALLY" in my dm's. Try me. You will lose this battle. Fuck off.

AND YET Y'ALL STILL WANNA INFANTILIZE THE LITERAL ADULTS. I will not give any leniency here. I hate this. I hate it so much that the minute I see any motherfucker treating the characters (Wukong and Macaque ESPECIALLY) like literal children, the desire to commit violence rises. They are not your precious little uwu babies you can coddle. They're actual adults. Please go touch grass and learn how to interact with society. I would LOVE to watch you talk to a real life adult the way you would to Wukong and/or Macaque in your dumb ass baby talk and see what happens.

Wukong, as goofy as he is, would hate to be treated like that.

Macaque would despise it.

Stop fucking infantilizing them. They're adults.

This is also especially bad with MK just because he acts more like a kid than the rest. Almost like he is, but he's still a legal adult (at the very least 18 bc that's the legal driving age in China) and should not be treated as such. He wouldn't mind people caring about him, but there's a difference between caring and coddling.

Allowing Macaque To Be The Asshole But Not Wukong

Get out of my house. Right now. I love Macaque and Wukong so much, you know this. I have a whole damn fic about how much I love them both. But what I will not stand for is this DISRESPECT TOWARDS MY MEN. Oh, little Macaque can do no wrong because he was ~*~twaumatized~*~ but Wukong is the awful person for saying a few things wrong?

Fuck off. :) Don't ever talk to me. :))

Macaque is an asshole. So is Wukong. They're both complex characters with complicated ass stories interwoven with one-another and y'all playing this "X is better than Y" bullshit annoys me. This is half the reason why I hardly ever interact with the fandom at all. Because some of y'all try to force these head canons down my throat and it makes me want to beat you with a broomstick.

Conclusion

This is honestly all I can think of off the top of my head. But yeah. These are all the things that make me never want to read a fic. In all honestly, it's half the reason why I stopped reading fanfics entirely, not just from LMK but other places. They're just so bad and each one is worst than the last.

I will never say no to fic recommendations, nor will I hate on anyone who LIKES the fics that I don't like, or even hate with every fiber of my being. You do you, my word is not law. We can enjoy our shit and still be chill with each other. Just don't try to force me to like something I hate. Please and thank you. <3

[perpetuallyfive]

did you think act 2 had a dip in quality when in comes to writing? i've seen so many people complaining and i can't, for the life of me, understand why, apart from people having these really personal expectations that weren't met (vi's pitfighter era being just the montage, caitlyn not spelling out her inner turmoils, isha's entire existence, jinx being family oriented instead of a freedom fighter, sky is also pissing people off lol), and I'm just so confused bc idk if I'm just easier to please, or if my lack of expectations just allowed me to enjoy the story plain and simple

I think there's a fair chance that many of the people complaining didn't watch season 1 until all three acts were released and aren't used to watching Arcane as a week to week experience; a huge percentage of the people in this fandom only joined it around the time they saw an "oil and water" gif set. No shade, of course. I can understand why people weren't jumping to watch women written by Riot, but that does color how you're going to view the pacing of a season.

This very well might be the first time a lot of those complaining built up expectations of where the story would head next, how they'd watch the struggle play out between Zaun and Piltover, only to see things they wanted to watch in depth get covered in a montage.

The fact that a single montage tells us everything we need to know about where Vi is at and what she's been up to is actually good, economical storytelling, but that's not the kind of thing people are used to in most shows. If you go back and watch the pilot of Arcane, so many things happen in that one episode. You get almost a full season of TV in a single 42 minutes of Arcane. A lot of other shows are just filling time, running in place until one of the two or three big moments for the whole season can happen a few episodes later.

That's not how Arcane works now or ever.

I imagine if some people had watched season 1 week to week — with lots of time to imagine what came next while at the edge of their seat — they would have been upset that we never saw the three youngest girls growing up. Act 1 ends with this huge cliffhanger and then we jump an unspecified amount of time into the future. We don't spend time with Vi in jail, we don't actually see any of the trauma alluded to. We don't see the tension in Caitlyn's relationship with her mom and how that plays out over time, which is a pretty huge part of season 2. We don't see Jinx's transformation into the damaged girl she becomes. All of that happens off screen and is only implied.

The techniques people are complaining about this season are exactly the same as last time, when they loved the show. But if you watched everything all at once before — no time to build up an imagined result that didn't pan out — and were reassured by how much you liked the payoff, then maybe you didn't even notice these things that you can hyper analyze while you wait 7 days for the next drop.

Hell, I saw multiple people surprised that introducing tension into Vi and Caitlyn's relationship has already paid off so well because it led to, you know... tension. Some people are so used to shows not doing anything that they are surprised when actually doing things can turn out to be interesting.

I think a lot of the things you say people are complaining about are probably going to be covered in act 3. Jinx has always been family oriented. She only cared for the found family she had with Vander, and then Silco took that place. She didn't give a shit about anyone else working with him, and actively made their lives harder just for fun. It's going to take some effort and time to move her from that pretty self-interested place she's always occupied to being some kind of freedom fighter risking herself for strangers, and Isha was a vital part of getting her there.

I also think there's a really strong chance that isn't even Sky, but rather a manifestation of her created by the Hextech/Void/Whatever that consumed her using her as a puppet to manipulate Viktor into spreading its influence further and faster. But who knows! There's an entire three episodes left and, again, a single episode of Arcane covers so much and always has. None of us can actually know where the stories will be one episode later, let alone three.

Look, for all I know, this might not pan out. We never know if a show is going to stick the landing one season to the next. But they're not really doing anything differently from last time, so I don't see a reason to panic or complain yet.

[sanguinarysanguinity]

You know, I don't remember if I've ever gotten the director's commentary on Holocene Park? Give me the director's commentary on Holocene Park!

Holocene Park! That's a blast from the past! Do I remember anything about writing Holocene Park?

Some random things:

Holocene Park was inspired by the dinosaur Asylum Dinosaur Holmes film. While that film is a wild nonsensical ride that introduces kraken and dinosaurs into the Holmes universe, it also manages to be boring for great swathes of time. Also, there is barely any dinosaur in it! And I thought, I can do better than that.

All that mad-science stuff about how to genetically revert a chicken to a dinosaur? Was actual science that researchers were playing with at the time. The year after I published that story, there were some breakthroughs of genetically engineering chickens with dinosaur jaws or dinosaur legs. Google Jack Horner's Build a Dinosaur Project for more deets.

I wrote this during an era when I didn't have a good method for naming OCs, so I just lifted all the names from the ACD canon story, "The Creeping Man." I regret that now, as this story bears no meaningful relationship to "The Creeping Man", and there is zero thought into how I assigned names. (Don't try to pry meaning out of how I assigned the names; there isn't any.) The reason I went to "The Creeping Man" is because this story was a gift for @language-escapes, who loves dinosaurs and hates "The Creeping Man," and I'm an asshole.

(Later on I DID have Elementary x Creeping Man feelings, and wrote "Every Creeping Thing." Please see that if you want to see a proper Elementary take on "The Creeping Man".)

Some additional names are taken from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, which was his own ridonkulous dinosaur adventure story. Again, there's no rhyme nor reason to how I lifted the names. Again, I view this as an artistic failure.

That whole bit in the first and second chapter when they're running around by headlamp underground, trying to escape a giant killer ostritch-dinosaur? Was inspired by my sense-memories of a day spent mucking around by headlamp in Ape Cave on Mt. St. Helens. (For good or for ill, we did not encounter any dinosaurs in Ape Cave.) (Nor did we encounter any non-human apes.)

I think this was my first foray into case-fic? That said, it's more of a an adventure story than a sleuthing story: there's not much here in the way of clues, deductions, red herrings, or the like. Just lots of running and screaming and hitting monsters with sticks.

I had a whole little sideline going for a while there of writing as-shippy-as-fuck gen for Holmes and Watson pairs, and this absolutely is a major entry in that sideline. How shippy could I make it without making it romantic? Can I make it even shippier than that??

Swans. I haven't had a LOT of experience of swans (mostly just the one that bit me when I climbed over the fence at the zoo to pet it -- in my defense, I was a ridiculously tender age.) But we had geese when I was a kid, and my brother and I had whole summers that we couldn't leave the house without a weapon because the geese would menace us so fierce.

One of my co-workers knew guys from the local bomb disposal squad. We've seen them handle explosive materials. It was not possible for someone to have less respect for a potential bomb than they did.

I established my "first half of the chapter from Joan's point of view, second half the chapter from Sherlock's" structure on a whim, but it served me very well. Especially when Joan got attacked by the swan. We all knew that I wasn't going to kill Joan, so it didn't make much sense for that to be a chapter cliffhanger. But to have it work out to be a pov switch cliffhanger was a marvelous piece of luck.

I had so FUCKING much fun writing those killer swans. So much fun. I kinda want killer swanosaurs of my own for pets. Surely they'd let ME pet them, yes?

I was GONNA have all the dinosaurs (but Presbury) die during the course of the story. But readers rose up in comments and demanded that I save them. So I rewrote the ending to send the ostrichosaurs to a dinosaur-sanctuary and get them the best medical care possible. While I was at it, I saved all the chickenosaurs, too.

The Gladys thing is lifted straight from the Dinosaur Holmes movie. iirc (and it's been ten years since I watched it), during the big villain monologue, it turns out Sherlock's name is not Sherlock, but some other perfectly normal thing. Which struck us as hilariously random, and I had to include that beat. But instead of leaving it as a random wtf (like the Asylum movie did), I built it into Joan's history as a domestic violence survivor.

For all that the main story is off-the-wall bonkers, I have some real and earnest feelings about domestic violence tucked away in there. This is pretty typical for me: crack in perfect earnest is one of my specialties.

Word of God: Presbury is gonna get up to SO MUCH screamingly loud cockatoo-mischief hereafter. And Joan and Sherlock will give him everything his little dinosaury heart desires.

[keepsmagnetoaway]

Alpha Flight 2 (September 1983)

John Byrne

I was unexpectedly delighted with the first issue of Alpha Flight which, among other unexpected moves, introduced a mysterious fish-woman to the team as they were being established. All superhero comics benefit, in my opinion from mysterious fish-people (see: Abe Sapien), and she drives the plot of this issue in what is another quite unexpected choice (that is, Alpha Flight is a big team and we basically don't even know the established team members yet, let alone what Marrina's deal is).

The team do not take this kind of rudeness well. This is Canada, Marrina. We have manners here.

Anyway, we learn a bunch about Marrina here, about how she was found as an egg by Newfoundland fishermen and raised on the coast there. I like that, unlike some of the original members of the team, this ties her nicely into a sort of stereotypical Canadian environment without that being the only thing about her character (since being a Newfoundlander tends to matter less in life than being a fishwoman).

I also just love the sheer strangeness of this character, and of going in this hard with her in just her second appearance. It's pulpy in a fun, surprising way, and ends on an appropriately pulpy cliffhanger.

I've written this entire entry and only just realised that her name is a version of "Mariner", isn't it. Ohhhhh. Anyway, the rest of Alpha Flight also exists, and we get a look at James Macdonald Hudson - that is, Vindicator/Guardian (he's in the process of changing his name in only the second issue of the series, for some stupid reason) - via the very old-school method of a back-up backstory.

This is such an old-fashioned move - the original, 60s X-Men had these, as you may recall - and I find it very charming. This one hits some very predictable beats - frustrated genius, cancelled government project, etc. - although with the quite interesting wrinkle that Hudson is angry that his cancelled project is going to end up falling into the hands of the American military-industrial complex.

He therefore destroys the blueprints for the super-suit he's built, using the super-suit itself, before abandoning said super-suit. This is a very weird choice for an origin story, since, like, we know he's now a hero of a different kind who doesn't use the suit, but...whatever, I liked it.

I'm an Alpha Flight stan now, I guess? Deal with it.

[coraniaid]

I did some googling to make sure this is unpopular and I think it is so unpopular opinion for the ask game: S1 of Buffy is pretty good.

Now if I was ranking them it wouldn't be my favourite or my second. But it might be my fourth favourite and I'm pretty positive on it, it's pretty goofy and honestly is probably a distinct enough era even compared to the rest of the high school era that it's not even super indicative of the rest of the show. But it can be a lot of fun, and even in that era with all of the monsters in the world at their fingertips, after a two parter with vampires, setting up the premise of the show natural, a witch, classic choice, they go with giant praying mantis for their third story instead. And I have to respect being willing to go with such an off the wall choice. And the Master? Honestly up there as one my more beloved Big Bads, great look, has a lot of fun with the role and whenever he shows up again after s1 (like the four times I think it is?) is always a treat.

Also I Robot, You Jane is specifically a banger, I love it, Moloch is great fun, introduces Jenny Calendar, the first of the inexplicable Robot episodes which are broadly inexplicably good? Be careful who you meet online it might be the robo devil! I love it.

(I'm distinctly not mentioning Prophecy Girl here because yeah Prophecy Girl rocks that's not unpopular but S1 is good outside of Prophecy Girl)

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I'm not sure it's in my top four seasons -- I'm not completely sure I even have a consistent top four --but I do agree that Season 1 is good. I think you're right that it feels very different to Seasons 2 and 3 (especially from around a third of the way into Season 2).

There are sadly a couple of episodes this season I genuinely dislike a lot (I think they might be contenders for two of the worst ten episodes of the show) and (other than Prophecy Girl which we're agreeing not to mention) there are no episodes that I'd call truly great.

But the opening two-parter is solid, Witch and Never Kill A Boy On The First Date and Angel are all fun and I enjoyed them when I last rewatched this season a couple of years ago. And towards the final third of the season the world of the show starts to get much fully realized and we meet Principal Snyder (who I raved about earlier) and as you say Jenny Calendar (and, for my money, S1!Jenny Calendar is the best iteration of her character) and Cordelia stops being quite so one-dimensional and we even get our first recurring minor character in the form of Harmony.

Sometimes (as in Nightmares) the special effects make it very clear this season was made in the mid-90s with a not especially large budget, and the show is generally a lot goofier and silly than it would later become (the fake cliffhanger endings of Teacher's Pet and Out of Sight, Out of Mind all feel very much of their time as well).

While some of the performances are a little shaky (especially from the one-off characters), I think SMG in particular really nails the role of Buffy right from the beginning of the season. Even without her big scenes in the episode we're not talking about, I think her performance in the title role is a big part of why the show got renewed for a second season. And I like ASH as Giles and Kristine Sutherland as Joyce and, yes, as you say, Mark Metcalf is a really enjoyable presence as the Master, too.

Honestly, I just have a lot of nostalgic fondness for this era of the show. It's not the show at it's best, but it helped lay a lot of the ground work for my favorite seasons. And one plus side of the very episodic nature of this season is that even the bad episodes can't really derail it. The bad episodes of the later seasons are bad partly because they set up long-term subplots that haunt the show for weeks or months, and that just can't happen here (the Anointed One isn't anything like as annoying as people say). Next time I rewatch this season I'm just skipping the two episodes I don't like and it will have no bearing on my understanding of the plot at all. If only that were true for all the show's worse episodes.

[monsieuroverlord]

Hellverine #2 Thoughts

More plot set-up, with heavy focus on setting the conflict in motion.

Not a bad issue, but to be honest, I didn't find it particularly exceptional. It was good, but nothing spectacular, you know?

Art is still an excellent fit for this book. Ienco has a real talent for perspective.

Spoilers:

First of all, thank god it wasn't Aurora under the sheet. I was so stressed.

Aurora didn't appear at all, so there goes my idea of the fun 'n spicy reunion option for this issue. (There's still time for Aurora. We were promised.)

In summary, Aki goes to the Greenhouse, lifts up the sheet, and it's a random mutant by the name of Celine. Another mutant named Evan shows up, tries to defend himself because he's scared (Fair). Aki realizes the kid isn't touched by evil, so he shows restraint:

Then they sit at the cafeteria and have hot beverages as Evan explains what's been going on. Essentially a group of mutants stayed in the Greenhouse after the world went to shit regarding mutants. It was very commune-style, taking turns providing food and doing all the chores and whatnot -- this included the hunting.

Aki uses his hell-psychic abilities, which is currently being called "Infernal Sense" to see things from Evan's POV. He and Celine were out hunting, found this giant hellhole of death that called them closer, Celine fell in, Evan dragged her out and back to the Greenhouse, and then Celine infected everyone. Like a zombie, basically.

The pair go to the hole, which is literally at Aki's former gravesite (looks metal af). Akihiro takes care of the infected demon spawn in his Hellverine form, and comments that while the demon has no voice, it has impulses, akin to hunger or breathing.

As Hellverine, he nearly kills Evan because the demon is pissed about his work being destroyed, but manages to reassert control of himself by focusing on feelings of guilt and shame -- specifically killing his adoptive mother and "her unborn child" -- very interesting little retcon tidbit. It seems like Percy has decided to shift the narrative to Akihiro killing a pregnant woman as a kid, rather than killing the baby in his crib and then his adoptive mother. Not sure how I feel about that decision.

Akihiro destroys the literal hellhole, but alas, he is too late to save Evan as the poor kid is dragged in the hole as the monument tumbles inside, presumably sealing off the literal portal to hell and trapping everything that fell in.

Dr. Strange then shows up, comments on the arctic weather being shit, and tells Akihiro his work ain't done yet. He's been doing some research, and it seems like the hell magic is seeking to use mutantkind.

That's the cliffhanger!

My Thoughts:

I'm very lukewarm on this issue.

Like I said, it was okay, but I didn't feel super engaged with this. To me, it felt like it was going through the motion of a plot without getting anywhere interesting yet. I mean, a few random one-off characters were inserted just to die and make Aki feel bad for not being a "successful hero."

While Aki's voice is distinct from the way Percy writes Logan, it doesn't quite feel uniquely Akihiro yet, you know? It still feels kind of surface level, which I suppose I can tolerate for a first issue or so, but I hope it improves as we gain a footing on this series. I'm just not impressed yet. It's almost there, and I can see it within my grasp, but not yet. Still holding onto my intrigue (because Aki's going to Japan next issue) but I wouldn't say blown away by means.

Aurora's not here yet, which I am both relieved and disappointed.

Though the retcon of killing his adoptive mother's child is, for lack of a better word, a bit odd to me. It doesn't quite feel like a total sanding of his character to make him more appealing and whatnot, but it was certainly a choice. I mean, maybe it can circle back to the fact that his mother was killed while he was in the womb, and now he killed his adoptive mother who had been expecting a child (continuing the circle of violence or something as this child's mother was killed while in the womb, but likely didn't survive), but even that feels like a stretch for me. The first issue already condensed his backstory to skip over the Winter Soldier, so maybe we're just getting another condensing of the timeline. I dunno! I don't know how I feel about that yet. There's also always the possibility it was just a continuity error, in which case I am deserving of the No-Prize, lol.

More positive things: I do like the fact we get full captions of Akihiro's inner thoughts. We've been missing that. I also enjoy the angsty continued narrative of Akihiro failing at being something better -- even though Evan was kind of a one-off, I think it has the potential, if done right, to finally set up a more natural turning point in Akihiro's life. One where we as readers can fully enjoy the progression of failed-villain-turned-somewhat-antihero-flawed-character (I hope that makes sense). In context: the whole Krakoa switch was a bit jarring, so I believe this series has the opportunity to sort of not only connect, but expand on established canon for a more cohesive plot. I also enjoy Akihiro figuring out his new abilities -- I'm hoping we get higher stakes and/or conflict surrounding that. It could lead to some very cool introspection.

I'd also eventually like to see him use his new hell demon abilities in conjunction with his pheromone powers (depending on how creative you want to get, it could lead to some unique effects beyond what either Aki or Bagra-Ghul would be capable of on their own)

I hope going to Japan is better. I'm hoping maybe that'll be the issue where we get lots more depth on Akihiro's backstory -- his thoughts, feelings, new reflections considering everything that's happened up until now. We're overdue for his updated ruminations on life.

Plus spirits of his adoptive family and potentially his mother (though an Itsu appearance might be pushing our luck for right now).

Anyway, that's my initial thoughts! I'm being a bit nitpicky, I realize, but it still has my interest for now. The potential is still there! It's definitely a slower book, and might end up reading better in the collected editions, but I'm still following along for the ride!

[true-blue-sonic]

Good day!!

🌻

Good morning!🍀

I'm noticing myself running away from the first half of Run To You, haha. My problems are multiple-fold:

Is the first chapter Fun, Interesting and Engaging? It concerns Eggman capturing Sonic and sending him to the future where Silver rescues him, but the way that all happens is very contrived. I know it's a story and I can write what I want and have it be "true", but I like (scientific, if possible) substantiation for my ideas. And with time travel, I don't have that! Because it's impossible in real life and all XD But the first chapter is the moment a writer must capture the interest of the audience. First ten sentences even. And I'm not sure mine are up to that challenge😅 But with the first chapter not even finished yet and me feeling insecure about what's in there, I can't begin uploading anything, and that makes a huge problem in itself, rip.

Is Silver written Fun, Interesting and Engaging? I'm worried I'm having him come off as too grömpy and thus unlikeable/unenjoyable to read about. This takes place right after Rivals 2 in which he is grömpy, and I'd say R2 shows well that Silver can warm up to people, be genuinely grateful for their help, and be a kind sweetheart who listens to others. But it's the time inbetween him being his irked self and having warmed up to Sonic that I'm worried about. For example, in the fourth chapter Sonic invites him to go along on the adventure to collect the Chaos Emeralds, claiming it'll be fun... and Silver shoots him down because 1. he thinks adventures can't/shouldn't be fun and 2. because in Rivals 1, Sonic says Silver gets on his nerves, and Silver figures that means Sonic doesn't actually want him around. That is something I want them to talk out in the fic, but like... is that interesting? Is that what people are here for when they want to read a Sonilver fic?

A problem that relates to the above point is that I've written a whole piece about Silver concluding that he does want to help Sonic, and that his thoughts of Sonic not wanting him around don't match with the fact Sonic actively offered a shared adventure. I don't want to cut it since it's written so nicely imo, but is it OOC for Silver to first say no to Sonic and then later change his mind?

"Something should happen in every chapter" and "always end on a cliffhanger" are two writing advices I've heard before. Especially the first one is giving me troubles: this fic definitely has some higher stakes and more going on in the world at large than New Beginnings, my Espilver fic. But that makes me wonder if the quieter chapters, wherein not a lot happens, are out-of-place in the fic. In New Beginnings I feel like they worked better, because a good 80% of that fic was nothing but that. But in RTY, is it... unfitting to just have Sonic and Silver cuddle on a hammock a whole morning and chat, to give an example? I want to show that they like each other, that they're growing closer and noticing things about each other that increase that like even more, but... Hmm, I guess I'm just worried it's not interesting to read either.

There's a lot more: I'm also struggling with the higher stakes and increased action of it. I'm a slice-of-life fluff writer to my core, not an action one XD But yeah, I've been working nigh-exclusively on the second half of the fic instead these days... but that isn't going to get me closer to actually uploading anything anytime soon!

[morganski-19]

Alright, in-depth theory time because it's all I could think about at work today.

This will be about what I think will happen in the next two episodes purely on the promo for ep 7, what I know from certain interviews, and the episode titles. None of this is based on anything really, it's all for some fun.

Cool, here we go.

Hotshots is going to deal with a lot of "Hot Shot" related emergencies, including the one on the actual Hotshot set. So a lot of people doing dumb shit, thinking that it will make them look really cool, but they get injured during it. And then the actual Hotshot rescue will happen somewhere near the mid-point of the episode, like the well emergency did in 8x06, which was also second in the promo.

Non-emergency related plots that will be happening during this episode, Madney going to the doctor which is why they need Buck to watch Jee. Buck going through it and starting to deal with his breakup. Eddie continuing his journey of finding joy in his life, and starting to figure some stuff out. Bobby getting almost stalked by Brad, because that man has some insane tendencies. And then Athena dealing with that new rookie that they mentioned in the synopsis.

To bring in some of the stuff from the articles, Buck is going to be looking at the past while Eddie is going to be carefree and looking at the future, a complete role reversal. I think that is going to be mostly this episode, where we see Buck overthinking everything in his relationship, and Eddie just being a more carefree version of himself.

However, I will say, that I don't think the carefreeness is going to be for very long, because eventually, he will have to acknowledge the whole Chris situation and get dragged back into all of those feelings again.

That is a hell of a lot to put in one episode, but they've done it before, they will do it again.

Now, this is where it will get a bit crazy, because I have nothing to base any of this information on, it's pure fan theory.

8x08's name "Sob Stories", was changed to "Wannabes". I'm not sure if that means "Sob Stories" will be moved to the spring premiere of the season, like how "No Place Like Home" was moved from episode 3 to 4, it's too early to know that. I am going to go off of the assumption that it isn't.

A "Wannabe" is someone who tries to be like someone/something else to fit in with a particular group. Since the episodes tend to be named after the emergencies that occur in those episodes, I can assume that the emergencies are going to surround that.

However, it could also be plot-related as well. I can see three possibilities of what Wannabes could mean with the characters specifically.

Buck continues to unravel what Tommy said to him in the breakup, realizing that he was a "Wannabe" in the relationship. It could bring everything back to when they first got together, and Buck's jealousy of Tommy and Eddie's friendship, and he could realize that it was never Tommy's attention he was trying to get, but Eddie's. Do I think that means he will be smart enough to fully understand his feelings for Eddie, absolutely not. That will take a few more episodes. But I can hope.

Eddie gets a call from Chris/his parents (or maybe Abuela, since she lives in Texas now), and realizes that his parents are the "Wannabes" because they want Chris as their redo child. It would play into my hopes of the mid-season break cliffhanger being bringing Chris home. Or at least starting the process of bringing Chris home. (if we want to continue with Eddie, even though I think it's going to be a plot in 8b, he might realize he is a "Wannabe" because he isn't straight)

And now here's the big one.

Brad is the big "Wannabe", as he is stalking Bobby and possibly hijacking some of the emergencies throughout the episodes. Brad is a spark fuse, he has anger issues, and would not be happy about Bobby's move from Hotshots in general, and also his rejection of that invitation to his cabin. He might even ask Bobby to come back to the set of Hotshots, because I can't see him liking Gerrard very much. This could go south fast, as the actor commented something along the lines of "you're not going to like Brad for too much longer" back when the first three episodes were airing.

So, he's were it gets really insane. All week we've been talking about the allusions to Buddie NDE, and how we think there is going to be one in the mid-season finale. I really like this theory, and think that this show would absolutely do something like this, especially as it keeps viewer attention over the break.

This NDE can be completely inconsequential and just out of the blue, much like some of the other NDE's have been. However, since the shooting is the only NDE not accounted for right now, I'm going to be focusing on that one.

There are some BTS pictures with some SWAT cars, I think that's a red herring. Everyone is going to make it out of there alive.

Given that the shooter was targeting first responders, specifically firefighters, we can take that fact and apply it to the possible NDE.

That being, Brad only knows one other member of the 118, Buck. He wants revenge against Bobby for leaving him alone on Hotshots, so he does something to Buck. I think Brad will be a recurring figure in ep 8, and in the last few minutes, the accident will occur.

What I want that to be, is Brad following Buck around and hitting him with his car. It could then be a redo of the Shannon death, where Eddie is the only one who can save Buck, and thus give him a reason to work through all of that trauma that has not been mentioned in the show since.

Do I think Buck will be saved in that episode, I really have no clue. It could go one of two ways, the screen blacks out with a flatline, or Buck is saved and Eddie realizes something. I don't think he can realize anything in the last few minutes (or possibly seconds) of the show, but it could start it.

I have more thoughts about why I think a car accident NDE for Buddie would be the way they bring up the whole Shannon thing again, but that is a whole other theory. So send me an ask if you want me to explain that more.

As far as what Tim said about bringing it all back to the beginning of the season, I think it will either Chris calling Eddie and saying he wants to go home, or Buck getting hit by the car (since he almost got hit by one when he was on the highway in ep 3)

I also really want Hen to have a storyline in the next two episodes, but I'm not sure if there is 1. time or 2. a good idea that doesn't involve family problems, since the writers can't seem to think of anything else for them.

(the only think i can think of, though, does play into my forbidden theory. it's forbidden because I both don't want to speak it and don't want it to happen, but these writers like to play with my emotions too much, so I know it's a large possibility. it may involve a miscarriage and dealing with the loss of a wanted child, something that hen has experienced in her own way the the hell of an adoption process her and Karen have gone through, where she can be there for chim. but again, I really don't want that to happen.)

Anyway, here's my crackpot theory. Don't know if any of that is going to happen, but we'll see.

[greentrickster]

So, I recently got into Lego Monkie Kid properly (aka: I finally watched it after almost a year of having read your AA-LMK cross)

I adore it even more now? And I'm wondering like. how did Sun Wukong even find him? Because I can't remember if you ever mentioned it.

Was he just like, wandering the city in disguise, did he see Phoenix in the news for one of his Shenanigan Cases, was he actively looking for a lawyer for some reason?

(also! Does Macaque acquire a lawyer as well after he starts getting roped into the 'Save-the-world' shenanigans?)

- ^_^ anon

'eyo! Welcome! And yay, thanks! Isn't it a fun show?!? I'm so behind (because it keeps ending on devestating cliffhangers and ah-haha, my heart, this is not good for the anxiety!!!!) but I love what I've seen and heard so much. Just... so so much. I love Mr. Tang, he's very Life Goals to me. <3

As for how Monkey King found Phoenix, hmmm... I think- wait, wait, nope, hold on, first thought was wrong, second, proper thought is that Monkey King got his fuzzy butt arrested while he was sneaking around the city in a human disguise and got himself arrested for causing problems on purpose. Probably loitering. Loitering seems like the kind of crime he'd commit just for kicks. Except he did it in the wrong place, and now he's being accused of a bunch of stuff that he totally would do but didn't actually do this time. And instead of just leaving like he usually would, he decided to play along for awhile, because Boredom, Literally Nothing Better To Do, Might As Well.

Cue Phoenix getting a tip that there's some guy in need of a lawyer (it's not from Edgeworth, we're still in early-stage Phoenix for this, he's all shiny and new and stupid, precious child), and down he goes, offering to help. He knows this poor man in innocent and he's going to prove it.

What he actually proves is that he's the most interesting person Monkey King's seen in forty years and hey, is that a li'l bitty bit of actual phoenix he senses in there...? Say, can I hire you on for my day-to-day lawyering, so I can actually do more stuff in this weird modern era?

Phoenix, in his ignorance and innocence, agrees.

Ends up avoiding a lot of troubles in regards to Kristoph over it and ensuring a steady flow of income for the Agency for the rest of his life, but at what cost?

As for Macaque, of course he gets a lawyer! Wukong has one, obviously he has to have one too!

And obviously it has to be Wukong's lawyer. Because it's Macaque, and, while I do enjoy the expanding of his character and connection to Wukong, I've also watched his segment in the OSP Journey to the West series, and am fully aware that he was planning to up and co-opt not only Wukong's role, but the entire Journey so he could do it instead, and I'm not letting go of that tidbit until canon forces me to at knife point. Because these are two petty, petty immortal frienemies, and I love that for them.

And the great part is, it's perfectly natural for lawyers to have multiple clients, so it's not like taking on another demon monkey is going to cause issues down the road!

Spoilers: it caused issues down the road, because Phoenix can have them both as clients, but can't represent both of them in court against each other at once. Well- I mean, he probably legally could, given the mixing of AA nonsense with LMK nonsense, but, physically and mentally speaking, no, he really can't.

Honestly, finally officially meeting the LMK gang and learning that they're in the same boat he's in is a huge relief, and finding out Tang's a JttW expert is just... Phoenix could cry, an expert, he finally has an expert he can turn to when new crap pops up, thank everything.

And also thanks for the ask! ^U^

[laudaddysmitten]

"Stunning View" Chapter 2 Teaser

Smell that?

I just figured, "what the hell?" Why not continue this little tradition I have created for myself?

(Since I'm still polishing up my editing, these are subject to change, but I'll try to choose excerpts I'm 99% sure will remain intact.)

“D’you smell that?”

Aziraphale concentrated and took a very long sniff. “Perhaps? I can't place it or describe it much, it's rather weak. Not unpleasant though, or I think I'd notice that. Did you use perfumed soap today?”

“Nah, then I would've smell…smaay-elll ..smelt? smelted? …”

“Smelled,” Aziraphale deadpanned.

“— Yeah, that one — it all along. This is new. But I have good smell senses. Snake, after all - so I can work it out.”

Crowley huffed through his nose repeatedly, drawing aromatic molecules in to be examined. With a lilt of curiosity which always led him to excitement, (excitement being the only logical thing for curiosity to lead to, after all), he ruminated, “Ooohh I know it, I know this one! It smells…it smells…really sweet and nice, like …well, like you, angel, you always smell really sweet and nice. But I already know what you smell like and this isn't that. So…..”

Crowley squeezed his eyes shut in almost painful concentration.

“OH! I know! I have it!” Crowley jabbed a finger in Aziraphale's direction with great finality, and declared confidently, “It's…"

.......

(Some true teasers have to include "cliffhangers" of sorts, don't they?)

Bonus points to anyone who spots the movie quote reference in this excerpt! (Not the easter egg from two TV shows simultaneously, though that's fun too.)

Read chapter 1 first, OBviOuSLy: